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There isn’t one word to describe anime. It’s action-packed, tear-jerking, and gritty, depending on what type of anime series you’re streaming. Even though there are new anime series debuting left and right, there are always the ones we watch over and over again. From Cowboy Bebop to Yuri on Ice, here are the best and most loved anime series of all time.

Cowboy Bebop

There are many great anime but there are few that can be called truly transcendent. Cowboy Bebop is one of those few. The series defies convention and genre, melding elements of sci-fi, westerns, jazz, and the blues to form a unique and gutting exploration of loneliness. That’s not to say the series is a nonstop tearjerker. The show is also some of the most fun you can have with anime, featuring stunning animation and character design, killer gunfights, and thrilling space races. Anime is better for Cowboy Bebop having happened.

Trigun

A bit more of a straight sci-fi western, Trigun is a thrilling old-school Clint Eastwood western told through a unique lens. It centers on legendary outlaw Vash the Stampede, a seeming buffoon with a mysterious past. Filled with stunning design and thrilling action sequences, it’s a hallmark of the genre and definitely not to be missed.

Dragon Ball Z

Perhaps the most iconic anime of all time, Dragon Ball Z pioneered an often imitated but never duplicated format: good guys fight a villain for 15 to 20 episodes, the villain evolves into a new and more powerful form, repeat twice, and move on. It’s a shockingly simple premise, but it works for the greatest action anime of all time. No entry in the genre has given us so many iconic moments and characters, from Goku and Piccolo to, “IT’S OVER 9000!” Anime wouldn’t be what it is today without Dragon Ball Z.

Sailor Moon

Anime has always bridged the borders of gender, but there’s something to be said for Sailor Moon being the first anime to hit American screens that took the structure of an action anime like Dragon Ball Z and made it unapologetically feminine. The result is an iconic franchise that has drawn in millions of women over the last few decades to anime in a way that a show like Dragon Ball Z could never do. Featuring a memorable cast of characters, iconic costume designs, and a slew of very solid movies, Sailor Moon is easily one of the most memorable and important anime of all time.

Fullmetal Alchemist

You can’t manufacture heart. Many have tried and many have failed. Fullmetal Alchemist is pure heart from beginning to end. It’s a testament to the emotional core of the show that the memorable relationship between Edward Elric and Alphonse Elric is what stands out over its admittedly excellent premise, centered on the mystical art of alchemy. The series finale is among the most stunning moments in the entirety of the medium.

One Punch Man

Initially reading as a parody of western superhero comics, One Punch Man proves itself far more than a one-note riff. It follows the hilariously memorable Saitama whose superhuman abilities allow him to destroy his enemy using only one punch. The result? He’s bored. Insanely bored, all of the time. No villain or monster can truly challenge him and the stories that spring from this malaise are weird and wonderful as can be. It’s insanely funny, insanely fun, and probably the single most meme-able anime of all time.

Death Note

The structure of anime is kind of a nebulous thing to define. Most don’t tend to function the same way as, say, Breaking Bad or Game of Thrones from a narrative perspective – and that’s not a bad thing, mind you. Death Note is the exception to that rule, though. It’s a stunningly-crafted supernatural crime narrative that plays out far more like a long-form season of True Detective than another anime. The cat-and-mouse game between Light Yagami and the enigmatic detective L is among the most compelling rivalries and relationships in the entirety of the medium and makes for legitimately thrilling television. Given its structure, it’s perhaps the most bingeable anime out there.

Lupin the 3rd

The character of Lupin the 3rd has spanned a number of different series under different showrunners, all of which have their merits and cons. We’re grouping them all under one banner in this case though, as every incarnation has contributed to the character of master criminal Lupin the 3rd becoming one of the most iconic anime creations of all time. Outside of the aforementioned Dragon Ball Z and Sailor Moon, it’s hard to think of many anime with such a note-for-note perfect cast, from Lupin himself to allies Daisuke Jigen and Fujiko Mine. The character has remained relevant for several decades now and we don’t see that changing any time soon.

Yuri on Ice

How good, how unabashedly pure, is Yuri on Ice? The sports romance anime took the world by storm in 2016, spreading like wildfire as it aired. From the will-they-won’t-they chemistry between Victor Nikiforov and Yuri Plisetsky to the absolutely stunning ice skating choreography, it’s a tour-de-force of modern anime and worthy of every bit of acclaim it’s received. With a second season on the way, there’s no telling how much more popular this one will become in the future.

Mobile Suit Gundam Wing

Everybody loves giant robots. That’s just how it is. And there’s probably no single property as responsible for instilling that love in American audiences quite like the Gundam series. Spanning dozens of series, movies, and stories, there are a myriad of excellent selections to choose from (Thunderbolt is particularly spectacular) but in this instance we’ve got to give it to the original Mobile Suit Gundam Wing. It’s this show that is responsible for starting the craze to begin with and it holds up remarkably well. Not only does it feature stellar robot fights (always a good thing), but also dense anti-war themes that carry throughout the franchise. Giant robots are always great but nobody has ever done it quite so well as Gundam.